Vikings V.P. of public affairs and stadium development Lester Bagley tells PFT that the team doesn’t like the provision, but that the team won’t try too hard to get it out of the bill.

“While we don’t agree with it, we probably won’t fight too hard on it, as there are other things on which we need to fight hard,” Bagley said via e-mail. “Plus, it seems an odd principle to stand on — that the State could lose the team but keep the Vikings’ name.”

Bagley also confirmed that the bill would require the team to make certain financial disclosures to the stadium authority, a subject that has become controversial of late in the league’s labor dispute.

‘There will be an agreed upon financial due diligence process established (as there was on Twins deal), and we are committed to providing appropriate financial info to appropriate personnel,” Bagley said. “We are going through these steps and discussions presently in our negotiations will potential local partners.”

The bill, which has not generated much excitement yet within the Legislature, would generated roughly $300 million from the state, $300 million from the to-be-determined locality that hosts the venue, and $300 million from the team.

If no action is taken in the next six weeks, the Vikings will enter in 2011 the final season of their lease at the Metrodome, making them free to leave as early as 2012.

Leave Canada South, and run for sunny L.A.!!!!!
Leave those 4 sentimental, hard earned Super Bowl runner-up trophies behind and never look back!
The women out west actually look like women are supposed to look like. They aren’t all albino lumberjack lookalikes.

Men have jobs, and don’t ice fish all day every day.
Women are tan and beautiful.

It is such a joke that the twins,gophers can get a stadium deal but the Vikings the #1 sports attraction in Minnesota cant get a deal done is ridiculous. If Minnesota loses the Vikings it would be a shame.

Interesting lack of diplomacy for a public affairs guy. Expecting players to give up an additional billion in revenues without the owners being required to demonstrate why they need the help is a leaguewide position. But the Vikes also want the state of Minnesota to cough up $300 million without them being required to demonstrate need. Guess that kind of thinking is habit-forming.

Don’t understand their position on the team name, colors, records though. At least that preserves the team’s heritage for local fans if stadium funding doesn’t go their way.

If the stadium bill doesn’t pass, the Vikings leave the state for California or Oregon. Since the bill never passed, the Vikings can take the name. colors etc with them.

If the stadium bill passes and the Vikings get their stadium, they stay and their colors stay.

If the stadium bill passes, but no stadium is ever built and the Vikings leave, the colors, name symbols etc are trademark items owned by the NFL. The state of Minnesota does NOT own these items. If IBM left Minnesota, would they have to give their logo to the State? I doubt it.

When the Browns left Cleveland, they agreed to leave the colors behind in exchange for Cleveland dropping their lawsuit against the NFL and a guaranteed future expansion team. However, they could have taken them to Baltimore if they wanted.

Give the damn colors, logos, team name, records, and trophies(its not like there are any Super Bowl trophies) and get the hell out of that Siberia of North America.

__________________________________

If the Vikings left right now, Wilf would still retain the name, logos, colors, records and trophies. The state only retains the name, etc if the Vikings sign this agreement and then the Vikngs decide to leave after this new lease is over, then the state of Minnesota gets to keep the team name, etc.

This would be a great precedent. If the state and municipality are kicking in 2/3 of the money to finance a new stadium, then they should be able to look at the books and retain some of the intelectual property such as the team name, etc. So the teams can’t hold taxpayer’s hostages as easy as they could have in the past. Good move Minnesota.

I don’t even live in Minnesota but I really gotta laugh at the people making fun of Minnesota and they probably haven’t even been there. “Move the team to LA where it belongs. Leave Canada south” HA! Ya because a smog filled, illegal immigrant littered, liberal, tea bagger, $h!t hole like California is so much better. Great you guys have better weather, good for you. Ignorant pricks.

I don’t even live in Minnesota but I really gotta laugh at the people making fun of Minnesota and they probably haven’t even been there. “Move the team to LA where it belongs. Leave Canada south” HA! Ya because a smog filled, illegal immigrant littered, liberal, tea bagger, $h!t hole like California is so much better. Great you guys have better weather, good for you. Ignorant pricks.

Yes,

Because Minnesota is Anglo Saxon Paradise.

Minneapolis looks like a Somalian country. A progressive city in which the women wear hefty bags.

@iamtalkingsolistenandlearnhttp://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/
Hmmmm seems like MN is the number one place to live in the U.S. based on education, unemployment, property values, and health care. Oh and look check back in recent years. Seems to be MN cities in the top 10 every year. Maybe you should try getting educated, make some money and move someplace similar just in case some poor soul procreates with you your poor children don’t become like you.

Los Angeles may be one of the biggest media markets in the US, but there is no passion for football there. As much as I hate the Vikings, the team is valued by its fans. In LA, NFL football would be an afterthought, something for people to do if their weekend colonic appointment fell through.

Pro football in LA is doomed to failure – They already have two great teams USC & UCLA who play more exciting football than the Viikes – Fans in LA already get their football fix, they don’t need another team and have proved it over and over again. Rams moved from Cleveland and left, Raiders moved from Oakland and left. Vikes will move as well.

guys, to my understanding, the NFL does not “own” the logos and names, especially not now, with no CBA in place. they are the teams property. The only thing the NFL has is licensing rights, which means not just any person can print apparel. The owners agreed to this so the revenues can be shared league-wide, and so one team doesn’t get rich, and teams with a lesser following and/or bad logo, ie the Browns won’t go broke. To my understanding, the individual teams can change logos, names, colors at any time. As long as the other owners agree, but again, that’s under a CBA. Minnesota can retain the rights to the logo, name and colors as leverage to try and keep them in the state. Under a CBA the owners allow the NFL to be one entity, without one, they are 32 individuals, thus the antitrust lawsuit. I admit, I may be way off base with this, but I believe that is how it works. The NFL didn’t change the Oilers to the Titanic, Bud Adams did that. Everything belongs to the franchise, not the NFL. They can just say who can, and can’t make the uniforms, jerseys and other apparel. Which is then agreed upon by the franchises.

Not a Vikings fan by any stretch, but I live in Minnesota. It’s hilarious to me the comments that some of these guys (probably 5’6 and 400 lbs themselves) make about Minnesota women. It also makes me glad to know that these same guys are too ignorant and xenophobic to ever come here and realize that (sshhhhhhh)….a BIG percentage of the girls here are gorgeous things. And we’re bangin em silly left and right! Suckers….

The Packers have 4 Super Bowl trophies, not 2. It’s my duty as a Packer fan to constantly remind people of that.

I don’t think a stadium deal is gonna worked out any time soon, but I don’t think the Vikings are leaving, either. It wouldn’t make sense to leave one broke state for another broke state. Of course, it’s the Vikings, so who the hell knows.

Vikes to LA,
put the Colts in the NFC North (YES!)
Put the new LA team in the AFC South
Colts in the South is stupid, its not even remotely south. At least LA is Southwest., also, it would help boost that division with a mega market.

I hope the Vikings stay in MN, it’s a great rivalry for my hometown kittens.

That said, why is there this expectation that the taxpayers need to pick up any of the cost of a new stadium, much less 2/3? Are the Vikings going to cut ticket prices by 2/3 or share 66% of their revenue with the taxpayers?

As for the clause about the name, records, etc. staying in the state if they move – seems to me a better disincentive for the team to move would be a $1 Billion penalty. Repays the $600 Mil they want the taxpayers to cough up plus interest plus “incidentals”. You can pretty well guarantee they’re never going anywhere at that point and if they do – you take the billion and buy yourself another (publicly owned ala Green Bay) team to put in your nice stadium.

Classic stuff. Management “grudgingly” gives in on an issue or two that they really couldn’t care less about and then says “Okay, we’ve done our part to compromise, now you give in on the important stuff, and most especially give us a lot of money.”
I hate and ridicule the Vikings and their yappy fans, but I’d never say anything bad about the women in Minnesota. There are a lot of beautiful women there, just as there are in Wisconsin. And they’re a lot less likely to be pumped full of plastic the way women in a lot of other places are.

We do not need anymore teams in the nfl!! 32 is too many as it is. Anymore and our Vikes would really have a hard time making the playoffs, like many other teams. Maybe they need to sell the team to the fans like GB does. Mpls, wherever here, builds the stadium and they get all the rewards and responsibilities of stadium ownership. L.A. doesn’t need for football, they have plenty of other things to do. It was terrible that jared allen had to go on youtube to ask people to come to the playoffs the season before farve came. But I hate the dome with its crappy non-legroom, b.o. filled hallways and lack of bathrooms for women. I am not gonna pump big $ into all that work going down there and paying for parking, food, etc. where I can watch it at home in peace. But it is fun IN THE BEGINNING to have led zep’s immigrant song rocking the joint as the vikes come out. The packers have an awesome “bang on the drum all day” from todd rundgren after their TDs. I do not know what we have in MN. Yes we have mexicans or OTM’s here I see them working in all our restaurants. Somali women doing cashiering. Are your immigrants/illegal immigrants working somewhere else besides food or construction? The mexicans, somalis left their country for good reasons. I would have legally done the same. That whole topic is irrelevant and is off the football topic. The Indians work at best buy(you would like their paycheck bubba). Like our women, many are nice and some aren’t. Are yours different? Your right we need more redheads! ha White, black, GOP, Dems all welcome here as long as WE all abide the law. I see too many guys on here trying to be dominant and arrogant. Just be happy with yourself and leave others be. My team is better than your team, who gives a crap. We all end up watching a great game that is inherently violent and has some players that should be in prison with their actions on the field. ex rodney harrison and james harrison the head hunters. They have some shame/rage issues to work out as do some fans that crave the brutal hits/abuse their own players on the field. Yes, MN is ridiculous in the winter(5-6 months of shi..) but until you or I win the lottery and can snowbird/ move elsewhere this is our lives. Southern cali is too crowded. Fly into MN for some peace. Most people are smart here. If we are the new san fran then at least we are tolerant of others even if we do not like what they do. I do not want to be abused just for who I am. Do you?